Without our good health we have very little to look forward to in life. The basis of a healthy active lifestyle is a good diet and plently of exercise both of which we believe we can achieve in our chosen lifestyle.
Eating habit
Obviously most of us arrive at our present eating habit out of a lifetime of conditioning and convenience.
But we would also say that our central eating style can be altered for the better with a little discipline.
Over the past few years, with little effort, we have both changed our eating habits and achieved weight loss, greater energy levels, no ‘post lunch’ fade and an altogether more satisfying range of foods with absolutely no hunger pangs either.
Never Hungry
We have converted to a food plan (as opposed to a ‘diet’ because we are never hungry) that is very simple in it’s application; we eat the types of foods that were available fifty or so years ago, the type of food that the early farmer/settlors may have had available to them. We are talking about lots of protein both in red and white meats, all dairy products, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, cereals, grains and nuts, fish and shell food to name the basics.
What we avoid are all the highly processed foods that are so prevalent today; anything that is purchased in a packet or a cardboard box is basically excluded, as are most baked products that contain white flour (whole milled flour is okay in moderation) and generally no products that contain added sugar, preservatives, flavourings or trans fat.
So this means no bread (except whole grain), no pastry products, no white rice, no muffins, no pizza, no cookies, no chips, no ice cream, no mayonaise, no jams or speads, no gravy (has flour), no tacos, no doughnuts, no beer, no soft drink, no fruit juices (eat half an orange instead), no comfort food ………
This rules out a lot of foods and may sound very dull. But the plan also allows for other foods that you may have ruled out but are actually appropriate, for example; bacon and eggs, thick steak heaped with mushrooms roasted vegetables and a glass of red wine, whole lobster with lashings of real butter, fresh fruit salad with full cream are all included.
Does this food plan sound boring? Well how boring is being overweight, having high blood pressure and high cholestrol?
Eating protein with the natural fat it contains is not the cause of obesity that most people think. It’s the high carbohydrate and sugar content in nearly all manufactured food that has lead to such an explosion in the obesity and diabetics across all western nations. We look for ‘low carb’ rather than ‘low fat’ in our diet.
Two Books
Actually, this menu style has been promoted very widely by a couple of books on nutrition; the Atkin Diet and the South Beach Diet. Both books describe in great medical and nutritional detail how and why this style of eating works. These books were written by medical doctors in the United States who were very worried about the increasing incidents of overweight and the resultant deterioration of health that is the scourge of the western diet.
Both books contain a section with recipes for meals and some suggested weekly menus including snacks and beverages.
For us, we prefer the South Beach Diet over the more rigorous Atkin Diet especially in the way the South Beach Diet provides for the more energetic individuals which does allow, in moderation, simple carbohydrates after strenuous exercise.
We purchased both books and read about it for ourselves. It worked for us.
